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Their focus? The funding available to the IMF, specifically to support the ongoing debt and bank crises in Europe.

Countries in Europe and Asia have expressed interest and even firm commitments in contributing more money to the fund. The U.S. and Canada, however, have said they won’t contribute any more cash to an effort EU leaders should be able to resolve themselves.

While we could hear more pledges over the course of the day, so far Japan, Switzerland, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and the euro area have all made dollar commitments totaling $320 billion, according to Bloomberg:

Despite sanctions against Iran, there is one clandestine route that remains open for business: a short sea corridor connecting Oman with Iran (Keystone)

by Jean-Michel Berthoud, swissinfo.ch

The United States authorities have long been at odds with some Swiss banks, but could soon be turning their sights on Swiss-based commodity traders.

At issue are new economic sanctions against Iran passed by the US Congress at the end of last year, and which come into force on July 1.

Both the European Union and the US have imposed sanctions because they believe Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear progamme is for peaceful purposes only.Switzerland has been unhappy about sanctions against Iran in the past, chiefly because it has represented US interests in Iran for over 30 years. It has also tried to mediate unofficially in the dispute over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.

A year ago Switzerland stepped up its economic sanctions against Iran to bring them into line with those of the EU and the US, but only after coming under prolonged international pressure.

Now Switzerland finds itself being pushed into a corner once again. On January 23 the EU announced that it would step up its measures against Iran in the middle of 2012.

And on February 6 Barack Obama ratcheted up US sanctions yet further. He ordered an embargo on property and assets belonging to the Iranian government and to the Iranian central bank in the US. All Iranian financial institutions are also affected.

Switzerland stopped importing oil from Iran in 2006. According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), in 2010 its imports of other items were worth only €27.4 million (SFr33 million). But its exports – mainly pharmaceuticals and machinery – were worth rather more: €562.6 million in 2010.

Tight-lipped Swiss

According to documents published by WikiLeaks, representatives of the US embassy in Bern have called on Seco to prevent the export of what are described as sensitive goods to Iran several times in the past few years. In most cases it seems that Seco immediately complied.

Seco deputy spokeswoman Marie Avet, could not confirm the truth of these leaks to swissinfo.ch, nor comment on them.
Christa Markwalder, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, reminded swissinfo.ch that the documents released by WikiLeaks were written for internal use by the US administration.

“I would not overrate Wikileaks,” she said. “After all, Switzerland is a sovereign state with its own foreign policy. We are also the protecting power for the US in Iran, which means we are of particular interest to the US as far as Iran is concerned.”

According to the respected German-language Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, David S. Cohen, the US Treasury’s under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, visited Bern at the beginning of February for talks with various members of the Swiss administration, including Seco. Cohen is responsible for the implementation of sanctions against Iran.

“No comment,” said Avet.

US embassy

However, Alexander N. Daniels, public affairs officer at the US embassy in Bern, was more forthcoming. He confirmed to swissinfo.ch that Cohen had been in Bern to explain the new US measures to the foreign ministry and Seco.

They include a boycott of Iran’s central bank, which has often acted recently as a financial intermediary for oil deals, and which is also thought to finance a large proportion of the imports for the Iranian nuclear programme.

Daniels added that Cohen had had similar talks in Britain and Germany.

Five giants

Although Switzerland no longer imports Iranian oil, about one third of the world’s oil deals are thought to be brokered by five Swiss-based commodity-trading giants – Glencore, Gunvor, Vitol, Trafigura and Mercuria.

Avet assured swissinfo.ch that the commodity traders would follow the sanctions in business involving the US.

She said the same question had arisen over the EU sanctions. But there the problem is that the EU has only issued a decision, and it is not yet clear how the measures are to be implemented in practice.

“So at the moment we cannot give you any more information,” she told swissinfo.ch. “But clearly, in trading and doing business with countries which have introduced these sanctions, we shall keep to them.”

Markwalder pointed out that Switzerland is a major trading centre for raw materials, in particular oil products, and some large companies were deeply involved. But she added that it is not clear to what extent they would be affected as far as oil products from Iran are concerned, if at all.

“It would actually be in the interest of these firms to obey the sanctions. Since these businesses are involved in trade all over the world, they have no interest in losing market access, licences and so on in the US.”

Swiss response

The Swiss government is to consult about how it should react to the strengthened EU and US measures. It will take its decision on the basis of an assessment by Seco.

Markwalder said the foreign affairs committee would also be discussing the matter.

“Switzerland would need some very good arguments if it were to break ranks with the western states – that’s to say, the EU and US,” she said.

“It’s true that we play a rather special role as a protecting power in Iran, but we still cannot afford to stand aside and provide a platform for sanctions busting.”

Jean-Michel Berthoud, swissinfo.ch
(Translated from German by Julia Slater)

Koch Supply & Trading Sárl said that it has launched a global gas trading business.

Stephen Cornish has joined Koch Supply & Trading Sárl to build the global trading and marketing business for liquefied natural gas, natural gas and related commodities.

“Koch companies have a long track record of excellence in the natural gas markets,” Cornish said. “This venture into the international gas markets is a way to link its global portfolio to benefit its suppliers and customers. We believe this step into the international gas markets provides a strong counterparty for producers and customers alike.

“We will build out our operations in Asia, Europe and the Americas to the high standard that Koch Supply & Trading has set and look forward to working with our counterparts. This is a very exciting venture for us.”

Koch Supply & Trading also said that it plans to build a Europe-wide natural gas business from Geneva and an LNG trading business from offices in Houston, London, and Singapore. Origination and marketing support locations are also planned for the near future in East Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

An ultra-deepwater rig leased by Anadarko Petroleum Corp is no longer heading to Brazil, according to rig owner Transocean Ltd .A source familiar with the matter said last month that Anadarko was considering the sale of some assets in Brazil, which include some deepwater prospects.

Transocean said on Monday its Deepwater Millennium rig would now remain off Ghana at a rate of $576,000 per day through this month, with the rest of its Anadarko contract through July 2013 now up in the air.

“Subsequent operating location is yet to be determined, and the dayrate under the contract could change depending on the country of future operations,” Transocean said in its latest fleet status report.

The Millennium had been set to move to Brazil in July to work on a daily rate of $561,000, according to Transocean’s July fleet status report.

The Switzerland-based rig contractor also said on Monday its midwater rig, Actinia, would move from Malaysia to India to work for ONGC next May, on a three-year contract with a dayrate of $190,000.

Finally, a previously idle Transocean shallow-water rig, the Harvey H. Ward, will start work next month for Pertamina off Indonesia on a $97,000-per-day deal running to May 2013.

The Secretary of State for the UK's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department issues his backing for the UK's onshore shale gas industry and set out a series of actions to support the sector.

Brazilian oil company Petrobras is looking to farm-out parts of its ownership in four blocks in located in the Deepwater Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, across an exploration area of 44,370 square kilometers . ...

ADES International, a provider of offshore and onshore oil and gas drilling and production services, has secured a new loan from a Saudi bank to finance the acquisition of three jack-ups from Nabors. ...

Australian LNG player Woodside is looking to up the pace on the development of the Scarborough gas field off the country's northwestern coast. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Harvey Gulf International Marine, the New Orleans-based LNG-fueled PSV owner and LNG bunkering pioneer, saw its final plan of reorganization approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

MAN Diesel & Turbo has been selected to provide a complete propulsion package and fuel-gas system for the world’s first fishing vessel with LNG propulsion. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have called for public comments on the Jordan Cove Energy project proposed for the North Spit of Coos Bay near... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Fluxys-operated Zeebrugge liquefied natural gas terminal is scheduled to host five LNG carriers over the next 15 days. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Oslo-based Awilco LNG, the owner of two 156,000-cbm LNG carriers, reported a profit of $1 million in the first quarter of this year as compared to a loss of $31.8 million in the comparable period... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Russian giant Gazprom and its Japanese partner Mitsui discussed the progress of its small- and mid-scale LNG cooperation. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

You are probably aware of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will come into effect on May 25th. In a nutshell, it means your personal data will be better protected, hence... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

You are probably aware of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will come into effect on May 25, 2018. In a nutshell it means your personal data will be better protected, hence... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Nautilus Minerals has completed the first trial of its newly-developed autonomous sediment sampler. The insect-inspired creation is dubbed the “Nautilus Jumping Spider” and resembling its animal... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Impact Subsea has appointed Craig Thorburn as operations manager, who will be responsible for product production and customer support. Craig will be based at the Impact Subsea headquarters in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Unmanned Survey Solutions’ new Accession Class unmanned surface vessels (USVs) have been given the green light following the funding from Marine-i Marine Challenge Fund, supported by the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Nord Stream 2, the developer of the twin pipeline to supply Russian natural gas to the EU market, released 90,000 young Atlantic salmon as compensation for potential temporary damage to fisheries... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Gulf of Mexico-focused vessel operator Harvey Gulf International Marine has been granted approval for its ﬁnal Plan of Reorganization by the United States Bankruptcy Court. The approval comes just 77... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has appointed Terry Makewell to the position of chief technology officer. According to UKHO, this appointment will support it in delivering its vision of becoming... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Aquaterra Energy has made two senior management promotions to spearhead its continued growth strategy. George Morrison becomes group CEO of parent company Aquaterra Energy Group, while James Larnder... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Minesto has completed the installation of the micro grid system (MGS) buoy that will be used for the company’s first tidal energy installation in Holyhead Deep, Wales. Moored to the seabed using... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Tymor Marine has appointed Matthew Heyman as business development manager of the company. Matthew has over twenty years maritime industry experience with companies including Wilhelmsen, Maersk and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Statoil’s active leases in the Gulf of Mexico

Scientists now think there could be microscopic life floating in the clouds of Venus. Their theory is surprising, considering how inhospitable the surface of Venus is. But in the clouds, the possibility of life is very real. Following is a transcript of the video. Despite decades of searching distant planets and stars for alien life we’re still empty-handed. […]

Childbirth is an amazing process. But unless you've witnessed or experienced it, you might not realize just how powerful the moment can be. That's why there are birth photos, which show people what the process is like — and prove that there is no one way for a woman to give birth. To celebrate birth and the photographers that capture it, the Intern […]

A big new European privacy regulation called GDPR goes into effect on May 25. But, because the internet crosses borders, many of their protections apply to people around the world, including Americans. GDPR says internet companies need to ask their customers for permission to use their data in a clear and understandable way. That's why you're gett […]

The median US home value rose 8.7% year-over-year in April to $215,600, the fastest increase since 2006, according to Zillow data. San Jose, Las Vegas, and Seattle were the cities that saw the biggest increase over the period. Homes in the US haven't been this valuable since before the financial crisis. That's according to new data from Zillow, whi […]

Gifts made to commemorate the summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un are now being sold for a discount at the White House gift shop. Trump cancelled the meeting this morning. The gifts were made to complement a coin made by the White House that went viral earlier this week. People started joking about it as soon as the cancellatio […]

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the company's board is no longer fighting for control after he proposed a new structure last October. His proposals curtailed former CEO Travis Kalanick's voting power. He said fixing Uber's governance was his first job as CEO, and that he then moved onto company culture and strategy. Khosrowshahi co […]

AirlineRatings.com recently surveyed its readers to find out which types of passengers people find most annoying on a plane. Of the more than 5,300 people who responded to the survey, 78% found people who smell bad to be the worst passengers to be around. Other types of passengers to make the top 10 include out of control kids and people who bring too many c […]

Eight women accused Morgan Freeman of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior in a CNN report published Thursday. The accusers included CNN reporter Chloe Melas, the coauthor of CNN's report, who alleged that Freeman subjected her to inappropriate comments about her appearance at a press junket. Altogether, CNN spoke to 16 people who "describe […]

President Donald Trump's cancellation of the planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly caught South Korea's president by surprise, and he's called an emergency meeting at midnight, local time. It looks like Trump didn't tell anyone before he decided to pull out of the summit. President Donald Trump's cancellatio […]

Mary Beth Buchanan, a former federal prosecutor appointed by President George W. Bush, has been hired by crypto exchange Kraken, according to people familiar with the matter. The regulatory environment has been murky for companies like Kraken given the nascent nature of the crypto market. Notably, the US has reportedly opened a criminal probe into market m […]

Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog, It’s now cool to be bearish bonds. A couple of years ago you were labeled a pariah for even suggesting inflation might pick up. The few of us that argued locking in 10-year money at 1.4% wasn’t a good risk reward supposedly didn’t understand the overwhelming three Ds - debt, demographics and deflation. Yeah, […]

Two days ago, when looking at the ongoing turmoil gripping the Italian market, where the imminent formation of a populist, Euroskeptic government with a penchant for spending and threatening to impose a "parallel currency", the "Mini-BoT" has sent Italian yields soaring to the highest level in years, we noted something more troubling not […]

Authored by Amity blog via Safehaven.com, In early November, while Bitcoin enthusiasts and investors were waiting for a long-anticipated update to the software that supports the famous digital currency, a mass email from the group behind the project informed everyone that they were canceling the update. For months, Segwit2x, as the update was called, was at […]

Having been a dollar bull for several months, Bloomberg's Mark Cudmore now thinks it's about time for the long-term dollar downtrend to resume. All the key drivers of strength have run their course and it's more likely that the marginal developments from here will weigh on the dollar... Via Bloomberg, After rising more than 4% in the last five […]

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Authored by Tho Bishop via The Mises Institute, Nicolás Maduro may have received more votes in Venezuela’s recent presidential election, but the record-low voter turnout is widely seen as its own form of protest against his increasingly oppressive socialist regime. So as long as Maduro’s government controls the voting process, his opponents will continue to […]

In the second round of sanctions announced this week, the Treasury Department on Thursday said it would impose sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies, as well as aircraft connected to those companies, in a move that targets four Iranian airlines. The sanctions were levied against nine individuals and entities for "procuring export-controlled […]

Having collapsed this morning following a profit warning (and mass layoffs) this morning, we suspect the following chart will start to send Deutsche Bank counterparties scrambling for protection... With a market cap of just over $21 billion now, Deutsche Bank - the once most systemically-dangerous bank in the world, and German darling - is now smaller than.. […]

One month ago we reported how, three years after a historic "fat finger" wire transfer in which Deutsche Bank mistakenly sent $6 billion to a (briefly) lucky hedge fund, a routine payment at the biggest German bank "went awry" (or as Bloomberg said at the time, "was flubbed") when the bank "mistakenly" sent 28 billion […]